Written by Amit Lal | 02 July 2010

With a 31-48 record this year, the firing of manager A.J. Hinch was not that big of a surprise. But firing GM Josh Byrnes, who is under contract through 2015 and also has a small ownership stake in the team, was quite unexpected.  Overall, I think Byrnes did a decent job, and did not deserve to be fired. But Byrnes put together this year's bullpen, which has been a disaster. And Byrnes was the one who made the unconventional decision to hire Hinch, and now the two are leaving together. The drafts from 2007 and 2008 were also poor, although the 2009 class looks good. Here's a quick look at some of the highlights and lowlights of Byrnes' career:

• Traded SP Javier Vazquez for CF Chris Young, RP Luis Vizcaino, and SP Orlando Hernandez - OK
• Traded 3B Troy Glaus and SS/RP Sergio Santos for 2B Orlando Hudson and SP Miguel Batista - GOOD
• Traded RP Jason Bulger for 3B Alberto Callaspo - OK
• Traded RP Brad Halsey for RP Juan Cruz - GOOD
• Traded SP Garrett Mock and SP Matt Chico for SP Livan Hernandez - GOOD
• Traded C Johnny Estrada and SP Claudio Vargas for SP Doug Davis and SP Dana Eveland - GOOD
• Traded SP Ross Ohlendorf and RP Luis Vizcaino for SP Randy Johnson - OK
• Traded OF Scott Hairston for RP Leo Rosales - BAD
• Traded OF Carlos Quentin for 1B Chris Carter - BAD
• Traded 3B Alberto Callaspo for SP Billy Buckner - BAD
• Traded RP Jose Valverde for RP Chad Qualls, RP Juan Gutierrez and 2B Chris Burke - OK
• Traded SP Brett Anderson, OF Carlos Gonzalez, 1B Chris Carter, SP Dana Eveland, OF Aaron Cuningham for SP Dan Haren - OK
• Traded 3B Emilio Bonifacio for RP Jon Rauch - GOOD
• Traded SP Micah Owings for OF Adam Dunn (rental) - GOOD
• Traded RP Tony Pena for 1B/LF Brandon Allen - GOOD
• Traded 2B Felipe Lopez for OF Cole Gillespie and RP Roque Mercedes - GOOD
• Traded RP Jon Rauch for SP Kevin Mulvey - BAD
• Traded (rental) SP Jon Garland for 2B/SS Tony Abreu - GOOD
• Traded 1B Ryne White and RP Scott Maine for RP Aaron Heilman - OK
• Traded SP Max Scherzer and RP Daniel Schlereth for SP Ian Kennedy and SP Edwin Jackson - OK
• Traded OF Conor Jackson for RP Sam Demel - OK

In addition to the trades, there were some key free agent signings and extensions:

• Extending Eric Byrnes - Josh Byrnes should not be blamed for this; he wanted to let EB go, but was over-ruled by management
• Extending Brandon Webb - hasn't paid off this year, but was a worthwhile gamble
• Extending Chris Young - looked bad last year, but looks OK now
• Extending Justin Upton - GOOD
• Extending Mark Reynolds - OK
• Signing Kelly Johnson - GOOD
• Signing Adam LaRoche - GOOD